1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle, such as a motorcycle, scooter, or an all terrain vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to technology for protecting connectors (power supply connectors, hose connectors, etc.) of a fuel pump housed in the fuel pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a saddle ridden vehicle such as a motorcycle or all terrain vehicle, the fuel tank is often arranged beneath the seat. A fuel pump is attached to an upper wall of this fuel tank, and the fuel pump is housed internally (refer, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,214). This type of fuel pump generally includes a flat attachment portion at an upper portion of the pump, and this attachment portion is fixed to an upper wall of the fuel tank. Also in this type of fuel pump, connectors such as a hose connector for connecting a hose through which fuel flows, or a power supply connector for connecting an electrical wire to supply power to the fuel pump, project upwards from the attachment portion towards the lower surface of the seat.
In this type of fuel pump, it is necessary to ensure that the connector does not touch the lower surface of the seat arranged above. Therefore, for example, in order to protect the connector, a measure to fix additional protection members to the upper wall has been considered. But with this approach the number of components is increased by the number of protection members, and the number of manufacturing steps is increased due to fixing of the protection members.
It has also been considered to either lower the position of the upper wall, or to raise the position of the lower surface of the seat in order to make the distance between the lower surface of the seat and the upper wall of the fuel tank sufficiently large. But with this approach, either the capacity of the fuel tank will be reduced or the seat position becomes high and the vehicle is increased in size.